Centrelink child care benefit

[Snapper]

Hi All, We will be flying out on the 20th and find schools for our girls (3 and 5). We are thinking of getting a Aupair to look after the youngest during the day and sending oldest when she gets back from school in the afternoons. We are also thinking of sending the youngest to a day care for 2 or 3 days during the week. 

 

I am trying to accurately calculate the cost and various options of this and have a few questions around the child care benefit. We will both be working or actively seeking work. 

- Is this visa dependent? My wife on 457 and me and the kids on 189. 

- Do you get this benefit fo au pair services? Does it need to be approved au pair agencies? 

- I assume the daycare will be half price for the youngest as this will be covered. If Aupair services is covered can I claim for this for the oldest child? I understand the benefit to be per child basis. 

 

Except the normal info on the website anything else we should take into consideration? Anybody here use aupair services and can give us tips etc. 

 

 

 

 

[RYLC]

Centrelink doesn't cover au pairs.  Only registered Childcare centres. 

 

The Childcare percentage paid (if you qualify) is worked out on the combined family income so it's not necessarily half. It's also a percentage of the "scheduled fee" - not the daily fee they charge.  A bit like doctors. So daily fee is say $120 per child, scheduled fee is (big guess here) $75 so YOUR percentage (worked out for your family's circumstances) is used on the lower figure. There is also an annual cap of around $7,500 that you can get back so all other costs are from your pocket.  

 

Getting a place in a centre can be difficult. You might have to start with one day a week and put your name down at multiple places to get a permanent spot. Which state are you going to?

 

The bigger question though is how come your wife is on one visa and the rest of you are on another. People usually apply as a family and all get the same visa. Your situation is going to need expert advice if it is as you stated. 457 holders don't qualify for Centrelink but 189 do. The bottom line though is that with these two clashing visas, I'm not sure which one of you will be the viewed as the parent. This is why families all come on the same visa class so that they all qualify for things as a unit. Your "two visa" situation doesn't sound right. What's the story?

 

 

Edited December 12, 2016 by RYLC

[Snapper]

@RYLC 

 

The visa story is long and complicated but the just of it is my wife is in the medical field and she got a job in a area of need. If she went on the 189 with me she won't be able to work in that position or company. She can apply for this once she has written the australian medical exams. We had various experts assess this and they eventually come back to the same conclusion that we had to go on different visa's. Seems strange to everybody at first. 

 

I see there is a difference between child care rebate and child care benefit. I am referring to the child care rebate. 

 

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/child-care-rebate

 

Based on this website:

- Child Care Rebate isn't income tested.

- It mentions in home care. If not a au pair what do they refer to here?

 

[Kevin]

@Snapper, this is my understanding from the published documents, rather than from personal experience.

 

The Child Care Benefit is intended to provide a direct reduction of child care fees of an approved child care service. The value is capped at $4.24 per hour, per child, with a maximum of either 24 hours or 50 hours per child per week, depending on circumstances. At 24 hours per week, the cap is therefore $101.76, whereas the cap is $212 per week if you are approved for 50 hours of weekly benefit. These are income tested maxima. The amount of benefit is inversely proportional (presumably by a sliding scale) to your income over the lower threshold of $44,457, up to $154,697 in the case of a single child. The upper limit is marginally higher if you have more qualifying children.

 

The Child Care Rebate has a different purpose and is not linked to your income. It allows you to claim back up to 50% of out-of-pocket child care expenses. These expenses are the sum of child care expenses less any approved child care benefits. It isn't clear whether or not the child care fees must be attributed exclusively to approved child care services, or whether the cost of an au pair can be included as an expense. I think @AFreshStart will know, as his family has previously employed an au pair. In any event, it is the Child Care Rebate, not the Child Care Benefit, that is capped at $7500 per child per year. It is my understanding that this amount is not income sensitive.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Kevin
Fixed grammar and clarified detail

[RYLC]

This website covers all things related to child care: https://www.mychild.gov.au

 

This pdf document covers the definitions of child care types.  Please note that the care has to be provided by an approved child care provider.  Typically au pairs and nannies are not approved child care providers (ie registered with the relevant authority.  

 https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/fact_sheet_3_-_what_is_approved_child_care_for_the_purpose_of_child_care_0.pdf

 

There has been talk about extending the centrelink payment program to cover nannies in the future but this has not gone ahead as yet.

 

You can access the Centrelink calculator here to work out what you might get https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/payment-finder

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2016 by RYLC

[Sassyninja]

Childcare Rebate is up to $7500 per child per year, so not necessarily 50% as explained above. We're getting 32% back for two children going 4, and 2 days a week. 

[Kevin]

I've looked into this in more detail and created a spreadsheet (version 2) to accurately calculate the child care benefit and rebate for up to 2 children.  Our Aussie friends have baked in quite a lot of complexity, but I think I have all important conditions for a two-child family.  Note that it determines benefits relating to children who are of non-schoolgoing age only.  Disclaimer: There may be some additional special circumstances that are not catered for, so keep that in mind.  I am not a tax expert.

 

Here is an example for a couple, each earning $50000 per year, having two children under six who attend approved day care for 4 and 2 days per week, respectively.  The example supposes a daily day care cost of $120.  From what I have read, this can easily range between $80 and $180.

 

 

@Sassyninja, thank you for posting your real-world numbers.  It was helpful to check that everything still made sense.  Note that although the effective child care rebate may be below 50% of costs, this only occurs as an effect of the $7500 cap.  The actual percentage for that part of the published CCR formula is always 50%.  A better way to describe it may be to say that the rebate is 50% of the remaining costs, or $7500, whichever happens to be less.  There are actually several other factors as well.

 

My wife and I do not have children as yet, but I find it important to plan ahead.  I hope this spreadsheet proves helpful to others for planning ahead as well.

 

 

Edited December 14, 2016 by Kevin
Updated spreadsheet to cater for selective non-eligibility of CCB and CCR

[Sassyninja]

You're welcome - we dont qualify for benefit - so talking rebate only, looking at $149 per day per child in our area in Melbourne.

[Sassyninja]

P.s. I cant seem to open your Excel spreadsheet attached. 

[Sassyninja]

Im wondering if we could get more back per week considering we havent been here a full financial year - or is that $7500 pro rata'd?

[Kevin]

@Sassyninja, I'm not sure whether the $7500 cap is reduced if you are only resident for a portion of the tax year. I haven't seen any conditions like that being described, so I do not think the cap is treated that way.

 

I have modified the spreadsheet to allow you to specific selective eligibility for CCB and CCR. When I enter you data, the effective CCR percentage is 32.27%, which corresponds with your own figures. Would you mind checking?

 

PS. Were you logged in when you tried to access the file? It downloads fine when I try, but only if I am logged in.

[Sweepea]

@Snapperif I can be of any guidance in finding an au pair, let me know by sending me a pm as I don't often log in. I used www.aupairworld.com and am quite happy with my au pair. You can register as a host family, put in selection criteria like age, which country you want au pair from, duration of their stay etc. Make your profile look appealing and have a photo of her room too. You can view profiles and send prospective au pairs a message. But to read and send personalized messages, you must join. I took the 3month Premium membership for about Euros 65. Well worth it.

 

My kids are 2 and also go to daycare twice a week. We were really blessed to get place for both my kids for 2 consecutive days when I called the daycare.

just remember to take your kids immunization forms to local GP to load onto govt website if they are happy no further jabs required. Get you and kids on Medicare first.  No jab no pay.

 

Sweepea